


The Coldest Heartbeat

by orphan_account



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lonliness, Touch-Starved, fluff/angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-10 01:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has gotten used to keeping his emotions under control to keep the season of winter in balance. And then the universe added the element of 'people'.<br/>Good thing he has awesome sisters and patient friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Coldest Heartbeat

Jack had figured out very quickly exactly what his crying would accomplish. It wasn't pretty, so he just didn't cry; it wasn't their fault that he was lonely.

So for two centuries, the spirit's heart was frosted as the rest of him. Crying was taboo.

He didn't want to hurt anyone else.

* * *

He lost control in utter hopelessness once. It was Easter, the season of hope, but it had been so long since anyone had seen him, and all the spring in the air made it harder.

He didn't notice the first tear until it shattered on the ground below, and by then it was too late to stop sobbing. The wind screamed - how _dare_ anyone make their friend cry, and the snows fell, a comfort of cold around him.

Bunny, when he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, didn't notice the tears, which had stopped in place of a small smile. It was the first time anyone had touched him (even if it was just the hood) since he'd run into Pitch those first fifty years and refused his offer of partnership.

He regretted that. His younger self was stupidly hopeful, and it was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Bunny threatened him, and let him go. "Don't ruin my holiday again, Frost, or we will have less pleasant words."

* * *

The next time he was touched, yetis shoved him in bag and dragged him to the Pole. He'd been trying to break in for years, but now, apparently, something serious was up, so he couldn't even really get a good look around.

Then they made their offer. Jack nearly lost it. Three hundred years of being alone, three hundred years with no one and this was their offer, after spurning him so long.

Except Sandy, who'd always given him pleasant dreams when he slept at the bottom of his pond on the spring and fall equinoxes, and didn't mind if he played with the dreams sometimes. But they still hadn't really ever talked.

Thankfully, he got himself under wraps before anything could really get broken.

The next thing he knew, he had somehow gotten wrapped up in the whole mess

* * *

Sandy, no. No, not ...

Jack screamed and frosted lightning exploded. It had been a long time since he'd been angry. 

"I didn't know I could," he lied when the others asked. He ignored the thoughtful expressions on their faces, pretended they believed him. If they knew just how much he had to keep hidden, locked away, how strong he always always _always_ had to be, they'd never want to talk to him again. After all, when feeling emotion hurt everything around you, it became second nature not to feel.

* * *

When he realized that he'd ruined his best chance, he couldn't contain it, so he went straight to Antarctica. There was no one there to be hurt by the tantrum of an ice creature, a failure like himself.

_"No, Pitch, I said no before and I meant it."  
"The staff, Jack!"_

Deep, wrenching agony, like someone had torn his heart out of his chest, like he'd broken, shattered into pieces no one would notice, slivers that would melt away under the sun.  
He didn't cry anymore though; Babytooth didn't need it any colder.

* * *

The others thought he was just always happy, when they saw him. It was not so, but Jack refused to ruin Bunny's Easter again, after the last time was his fault, and he didn't want to mess up the others either. What if they left, if he was alone again?

They still didn't really touch him. That was okay. After all, who'd hug someone who was cold enough to give them frostbite?

* * *

It was Bunny who found him, when he was close to the edge. It was hot outside, summer was coming, and he felt the urge to scream and fight it and just cry for all the years alone, and that not changing even when people could see him. They still didn't touch him.

"Yeh alright, mate?"

"Yep. Fine." Jack breathed evenly, slowly, he couldn't let himself lose it with the one closest people he had to a friend so close. It would probably kill him.

"Right, and ah'm a kangaroo," Bunny said.

That nudged a small smile from Jack, but it was quickly gone. "I've gotta go, there's a good blizzard that needs moving."

He lied. Again. He just needed to be somewhere like Antarctica or Canada or the Pole, where no one minded a summer storm.

Bunny frowned. "You need t' let it out, mate, and quit lettin' whatever's eating at yeh win."

"Can't."

"Why not?" Bunny pushed, even knowing he may not like the answer.

"Because," Jack finally snapped, "then things like -" _things like '68 happen_ \- he went paler when he realized what he'd almost said, if that was even possible, and the wind lifted him away.


End file.
